Real-time adaptive facility deployment

ABSTRACT

A system allows an end-user to locate and gain access to an access-controlled facility or resource, such as a restroom, phone charging station, or Wi-Fi hot spot. Some implementations of the system monitor the formation and concentration of individuals into crowds that may place a higher demand on facilities and resources located near the crowd. The system may distribute mobile facilities to areas that offer convenient access to potential developing crowds, and when the system determines that there is a disparity between available resources and crowd demand reaches a certain level it may deploy one or more mobile facilities to positions proximate to that crowd. A mobile facility may also be requested on demand by a user or organizer, and some implementations provide cost sharing mechanisms and other user benefits related to requesting and accessing the facility.

PRIORITY

This application is a non-provisional of and claims priority to U.S.Provisional Patent 62/725,472, filed Aug. 31, 2018, and titled Real-TimeAdaptive Facility Deployment, the entirety of which is herebyincorporated by reference.

FIELD

The disclosed technology pertains to a system for providing a user withincreased access to a facility, or one or more resources within afacility, or both.

BACKGROUND

Travelers and locals want certainty, convenience and quality whensearching for a facility or service, such as a restroom or other kind offacility. In some instances, consumers may pretend that they arelegitimate customers in order to gain access to a retailer or hotel inorder to avoid using a publicly available facility, due to concernsabout cleanliness, maintenance, and safety. Over time, vendor locationssuch as coffee shops, cafes, gas stations, grocers, and other retailersin areas with heavy foot traffic may become “de facto” public restrooms.Allowing the general public access to private business facilities maycreate additional costs and risks, as well as concerns about controllingaccess without seemingly discriminatory policies, while giving theprivate facility no real benefit. Additionally, dealing with consumersthat are unsure if they are welcome to use a given facility or not maylead to repeated awkward time-consuming interactions between consumersand vendor employees, alienating potential customers and harming theefficiency of employees.

These problems can be amplified due to special events or othercircumstances occurring within a city or community. For example, aconcert or sporting event at a football stadium can concentrate ahundred thousand spectators within a relatively small area of a city,while an annual fireworks display, music festival, or food festival candraw a half a million visitors or more. These attendees are often drawnfrom neighboring cities and may be unfamiliar with the areas and customsin and around the venue. This high concentration of visitors can createa burden on local businesses and other facilities as they seek outrestrooms, air-conditioned areas, water fountains, phone chargingstations, internet hotspots, and other resources that may be needed.

Such congestion and inconvenience can occur even in the absence oflarge-scale sporting events or festivals, making it difficult forincreased access to such resources to be arranged for. Whether randomlyor due to small or unpredictable events such as road closures, trafficaccidents, retail sales events, political events, and other activities,crowds of various sizes can often be concentrated into an area andincrease the need for resources in that area, and correspondinglyincrease the burdens on nearby businesses.

What is needed, therefore, is an improved system for anticipating andresponding to increased need for resources within an area and managingconsumer access to such resources.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings and detailed description that follow are intended to bemerely illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of theinvention as contemplated by the inventors.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary system for managingaccess to a private facility;

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of an exemplary set of high-level steps thatthe system of FIG. 1 could perform to manage user interactions withresources and facilities;

FIG. 3A shows a screenshot of an exemplary interface for choosing afacility;

FIG. 3B shows a screenshot of an exemplary interface for signalingarrival at a facility;

FIG. 3C shows a screenshot of an exemplary interface for signaling thefacility is available;

FIG. 3D shows a screenshot of an exemplary interface for enabling andaccessing a facility;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary deployment system foradaptively deploying facilities in real-time;

FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary deployable facility foruse with the deployment system;

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an exemplary set of high-level steps thatthe deployment system may perform to distribute and deploy facilities;

FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of an exemplary set of steps that thedeployment system may perform to monitor demand for resources;

FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of an exemplary set of steps that thedeployment system may perform to monitor supply of resources;

FIG. 9 shows a flowchart of an exemplary set of steps that thedeployment system may perform to distribute facilities prior todeployment;

FIG. 10 shows a flowchart of an exemplary set of steps that thedeployment system may perform to deploy facilities;

FIG. 11 shows a flowchart of an exemplary set of steps that thedeployment system may perform to share costs associated with facilitydeployment; and

FIG. 12 shows a flowchart of an exemplary set of steps that thedeployment system may perform to provide benefits related to resourceuse.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The inventors have conceived of novel technology that, for the purposeof illustration, is disclosed herein as applied in the context of asystem for managing user access to a private facility, such as arestroom, resources at a private or public facility, or both. While thedisclosed applications of the inventors' technology satisfy a long-feltbut unmet need in the art of systems for managing access to a privatefacility, it should be understood that the inventors' technology is notlimited to being implemented in the precise manners set forth herein,but could be implemented in other manners without undue experimentationby those of ordinary skill in the art in light of this disclosure.Accordingly, the examples set forth herein should be understood as beingillustrative only and should not be treated as limiting. It iscontemplated that the teachings herein may be readily applied to variousother contexts, including contexts that do not necessarily involve arestroom or similar facility. The example of a restroom as a privatefacility is being provided herein as just one merely illustrativeexample.

As used herein, a “private facility” should be understood to include anarea or resource for which there is some restriction on the access oruse of Examples may include a restroom, a shower, a parking garage, anoffice building, etc. A private facility may thus include an area withphysical access controls such as a room secured by a locked door; butmay also include an area with “soft” access controls such as a parkingspace for which entry is not physically barred, but in which a personmay not be authorized to park except under certain conditions.Similarly, a private facility could be a room that is publiclyaccessible, but which contains resources that may have some restrictionsplaced on their use. This could include tangible devices such as, forexample, a phone charging station that is inoperable until activated byan authorized user or a tire filling station that is inoperable untilactivated, but could also include more abstract resources such as asemi-automated ordering system that may be accessed by an authorizeduser to place an order for food or drink, or a semi-automated system forrequesting or reserving services that may be accessed by an authorizeduser to reserve a dining table or parking spot. Private facilities maybe permanently private, such as a restroom at a private establishment;or may only be temporarily private, such as a park or festival groundfor which access is only controlled certain weekends during a year as aresult of certain events. In other words, an otherwise public facilitymay be rendered at least partially “private” when access to at least aportion of the facility is at least partially restricted for at leastsome period of time. The foregoing examples of facilities are merelyillustrative and are not intended to be limiting in any way. Variousother suitable kinds of facilities will be apparent to those of ordinaryskill in the art in view of the teachings herein.

Also as used herein, a “resource” should be understood to includehardware or other objects (e.g., a faucet, a toilet, a charging station,an elevator, etc.); people (e.g., a cashier, a person whom an invitee isscheduled to meet, etc.); and transactions (e.g., purchase of a cup ofcoffee or some other good, a request for service, etc.). The foregoingexamples of resources are merely illustrative and are not intended to belimiting in any way. Various other suitable kinds of resources will beapparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachingsherein.

I. Exemplary System and Method for Managing Access to Resources

Turning now to FIG. 1, that figure shows an exemplary system (10) formanaging access to a private facility or resource. Particularimplementations of systems such as the system (10) may have varyingcombinations of the shown components. In the example shown in FIG. 1, auser device (100) is communicatively coupled with an access server (114)via a long or mid-range wireless connection, such as a cellular datanetwork or local Wi-Fi network that provides the user device (100)connectivity to the access server (114) via the internet. The userdevice (100) may be, for example, a smartphone, tablet, laptop, kioskdevice, or other similar device having capabilities such as storing,exchanging, and processing data and information, receiving user inputsand providing information to a user, communicating with other deviceswirelessly, and executing software applications. The access server (114)may be a physical or virtual server, located at the facility orelsewhere, and configured to store data describing various resources orfacilities that the user device (100) may request access to, andauthentication data for verifying that the user device (100) should begranted access to resources or facilities. The user device (100) may begranted access in a variety of circumstances, such as where the userdevice (100) is associated with a subscription or other pre-purchasedaccess to the facility. The access server (114) may also be configuredto manage wait times, availability notifications, service requests,customer feedback, and other similar information and features associatedwith the access and use of resources or facilities.

User device (100) may also communicate with an access panel (104) viashort range wireless communications such as Bluetooth, NFC, RFIDdetection, infrared, or the access panel (104) may receive identifyingdata via other means, such as voice or facial recognition, or othermeans for communicating data wirelessly or hands free. The access panel(104) is located proximately to the desired resource or facility, andinteractions between the user device (100) and the access panel (104)can serve as an indicator of a requester's arrival at or proximity tothe resource or facility. In the present example, a facility is shownwith a facility door (106), but it should be understood that not allfacilities will have a facility door (106) or other physical accessbarriers. For example, while a restroom facility may have a facilitydoor (106), an alternate facility such as a parking facility or officemay not, and may instead have access control features specific todevices or structures within that environment, such as, for example, aturnstile, gate, elevator, or arm, located at an entrance to thefacility. As used herein, a facility door, for example, facility door(106), may be a physical door or any other barrier-to-access appropriatefor accessing the desired facility.

An access manager (110) may be a physical or virtual device or serverlocated at the facility or elsewhere and coupled with one or moredevices at the facility. The access manager (110) may be configured tocontrol and operate connected devices based upon communications from theaccess server (114). In some implementations, the access manager (110)and the access server (114) may be configured on the same physical orvirtual server and may also be combined with one or more features of theaccess panel (104) into a single physical device. In otherimplementations, the access manager (110) may be eliminated altogether,and any features or actions it provides may instead be handled by adifferent device, as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in theart in light of the disclosure herein.

An automatic opener (101) may be installed with the facility door (106)so that when a communication is received from the access manager (110)indicating the facility should be opened, the automatic opener (101) canactivate and open the facility door (106). An automatic lockingmechanism (102) may be installed with the facility door (106) so thatwhen a communication is received from the access manager (110) theautomatic locking mechanism (102) can be latched or unlatched asrequired. The access panel (104) may be installed near the door andcommunicate with the user device (100) to verify a user's arrival at thefacility. Interaction between the user device (100) and the access panel(104) may result in a communication to the access manager (110) and, forexample, cause the automatic locking mechanism (102) to unlatch and thedoor opener (101) to open the door.

As has been discussed, a facility may have a set of facility userdevices (116) that may include a variety of devices and fixtures, suchas a vacuum cleaner, tire inflator, air conditioner, car wash soap andwater sprayer, audio device, video device, computer, sink, shower ortoilet water supply, soap dispenser, product dispenser, sampledispenser, communication device, Wi-Fi access point, charging station,power supply, massage chair, or other similar device. The facility userdevices (116) may be enabled and disabled based upon a communicationfrom the access manager (110). The facility user devices (116) may be inan access-controlled facility (e.g., a facility with the facility door(106)), or may be in an open area (e.g., a number of phone chargingplugs on a phone charging kiosk in a public area).

As an exemplary use of the system (10), a restroom may be located at aprivate business, such as a coffee shop. After requesting access via theaccess server (114), the user device (100) could be placed within theproximity of the facility access panel (104) located proximately to therestroom. The user device (100) could retrieve a unique identifier orauthentication code from the access server (114) and communicate theauthentication code to the access panel (104), which can communicate theauthentication code to one or more of the access manager (110) andaccess server (114), verifying that the user device (100) is bothpresent at the facility, and authorized to access the facility. Withverification complete, the access manager (110) can unlatch theautomatic locking mechanism (102), open the facility door (106) via theautomatic opener (101), and enable the facility user devices (116), suchas the water supply for the toilet and sink, the restroom lights, an aircirculator, a television or radio, or a partner product sampledispenser.

When the user exits the restroom, the user device (100) may interfacewith the facility access panel (104) or the access server (114) tonotify access manager (110) that the facility is now empty, causing thedoor opener (101) to close the door, the automatic locking mechanism(102) to latch, and the facility user devices (116) to be disabled. Amotion detector (108) may provide verification to the access manager(110) that the facility is in fact vacant before closing and locking thefacility, or may be used to trigger actions after a passage of time withno motion, in the event that a user exits the facility, so that thefacility may be secured at all times when not in use.

The above described devices in communication with the access manager(110) may also be actuated, enabled, disabled, triggered, or otherwisemanipulated via a facility device (112) or the access server (114). Thefacility device (112) may be a smartphone, tablet, computer, or kioskconfigured for use at the facility in order to manage users' interactionwith the resource or facility. For example, the facility device (112)may be a tablet in possession of a cashier that may be used to manuallyunlock, open, or enable a facility to allow someone without the userdevice (100) to access the facility. Such access could also be grantedby way of activating a disposable card with an embedded RFID or otherindicator that can be detected by the facility access panel (104) togrant access. A temporary access card could be activated via thefacility device (112) and configured to allow access a certain number oftimes, or over a certain period of time. Similarly, the access server(114) could communicate to access manager (110) and trigger any of thedevices. Such functionality could allow the access server (114) toremotely grant access to a cleaner or technician without interruptingthe facility vendor's employees, could be used to disable all access toa facility in the event of a major maintenance need, or could be used totest the connected facility devices for operational status andperformance.

FIG. 1 shows one example of a possible configuration of systems,devices, and functionality, and it should be understood that variousdifferent configurations may be desirable as has been described and aswill be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in light of thisdisclosure. In particular, some facilities may not have the facilitydoor (106), the automatic locking mechanism (102), the access panel(104), the automatic opener (101), the motion detector (108), or thefacility user devices (116).

It should also be understood that the system (10) could be configuredfor use in both permanent, semi-permanent, or mobile facilities. Thiscould be useful at any place where resources are restricted, such as forexample, at an outdoor concert venue, fairground, worksite, farmer'smarket, or other area where temporarily deployed, access-controlledfacilities may be useful. By way of example only, a private facility asdescribed herein may include a mobile restroom or similar mobilestructure where private access may be desired. It should also beunderstood that a single location may support multiple virtual queuesmanaging access to multiple resources. For example, when implemented ata fairground there may be multiple virtual queues managing access tomultiple restrooms, vendors, carnival rides, and other resourcessimultaneously and within the same general proximity. Other variationsin method of granting access to a facility and hardware configurationand components exist and will be apparent to one of ordinary skill inthe art in light of this disclosure.

Turning now to FIG. 2, that figure shows a flowchart of a set ofhigh-level steps that the system (10) could perform to manage useraccess to resources and facilities. For the sake of clarity, the accessserver (114) will be discussed as performing the steps, but it should beunderstood that one or more steps could be performed by other componentsof the system (10) or a similar system. The access server (114) maydisplay (block 200) available resources to a user via the user device(100) via an interface such as that shown in FIG. 3A. A user's currentposition (300) is shown, as well as one or more nearby facilities (302)that a user can access. The name and location of the facility (304) maybe displayed, as well as the availability or wait times (306) of thefacility to aid in a user's selection. In some implementations, theinterface of FIG. 3A could show an indicator of the number of peoplequeued at a location by using a number, color, a size-based indicatorsuch as an icon that is scaled to be larger or smaller depending uponthe number of people in a queue for that facility, or another symbol,text, or visual identifier.

The access server (114) may receive (block 202) a resource selectionfrom the user and may reserve (block 204) access to the resource for theuser in response. Access may be reserved (block 204) in a variety ofways, including by queuing the user in a virtual line of people thathave requested access, preventing any other access during a certainfuture time period reserved for the user, or other similar methods.

The access server (114) may also provide (block 206) a notification tothe user when the resource is available for their access. This couldoccur when the user reaches the front of a virtual queue, upon theoccurrence of a reserved period of time, upon arrival at the facility,or other methods. When the user arrives at the facility, the system (10)may provide (block 208) access to the to the facility, via interfacessuch as those shown in FIGS. 3B, 3C, and 3D. A check-in button (308)allows a user to indicate that they have arrived at the location. Whenaccess is provided (block 208), the access server (114) may display amessage (314) via the user device (100) indicating that they shouldproceed to the facility or resource, and provide any furtherinstructions (e.g., instructions to interact with the access panel 104).Additional controls may be displayed depending upon a particular versionand implementation, such as the ability to unlock an open a door (316)via the user device (100).

While some of the techniques discussed herein may require or benefitfrom a mobile data technology such as 3G, 4G, or 5G wireless datatransmission, it should be understood that the technology and processescan also be performed by a user device that is “offline” or that canonly access online resources via a Wi-Fi hotspot with some slightmodifications. This could be useful for situations where a user is avisitor from another region or country and may not have reliable orusable mobile data capabilities within the area they are visiting. Insuch a situation, an offline mode may be enabled where the access server(114) will provide a set of offline data to the user device (100) forone or more cities, states, or regions. The set of offline data may be afile or series of files that contain information that will allow theuser device (100) to search for and identify facilities withoutrequiring any exchange of data between the access manager (110) and theuser device (100) beyond the transmission of the set of offline data.

Depending upon the capabilities of the user device (100), the userexperience may be very similar to the normal user experience but maylack real time information from the access manager (110) such as currentwait times. For instance, in an “offline” mode, the user device (100)may show the user the locations of associated facilities on a map, butnot show real-time information such as the number of other users thatare already currently in the queue for each facility on the map. When in“offline” mode, the user device (100) may determine based upon GPScoordinates, if available for that user device (100) without a dataconnection, or based upon a user input, when the user has arrived at thefacility. Upon arrival, the user device (100) may prompt the user toconnect to a local facility Wi-Fi connection, which may then allow theuser device (100) to access online features.

Other embodiments and features of the system (10) may include thosedescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,984,520, entitled “Facility and ResourceAccess System,” issued May 29, 2018, the disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference.

II. Exemplary System for Real-Time Adaptive Facility Deployment

Systems, facilities, and resources such as those described aboveadvantageously provide an improved experience for both users andadministrators of such facilities and resources. The advantages of someimplementations of such systems are limited by the number of nearbypermanent facilities and resources, which can become problematic insituations where a large crowd develops in an area that does not offersufficient facilities and resources. For example, a weekend musicfestival in a city might draw several hundred thousand visitors into anarea of a square mile or less. Organizers may provide for a number offacilities and resources such as water stations, restrooms, and chargingstations in and around the area of the festival, but these temporaryarrangements are often inadequate, undesirable, or uncomfortable due tocleanliness, poor conditions, lack of supplies, long lines, heat, orgeneral usability. As a result, many attendees may instead enter privatebusinesses or office lobbies seeking out more permanent, comfortable,and usable restrooms and water fountains, which can lead to unnecessarycosts and risks for owners of those areas.

To address such situations and others, FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagramof an exemplary deployment system (40) for adaptively deployingfacilities and resources in real-time. The deployment system (40) may beimplemented as an independent system or may be combined or integratedwith one or more of the systems, methods, interfaces, and devicesdisclosed in FIGS. 1-2 above and elsewhere in this disclosure.Facilities and resources deployed by the deployment system (40) may besimilar to those described above in the context of FIG. 1, and may insome implementations be located, requested, and accessed by stepssimilar to those of FIG. 2, as well as by other methods such as thosedescribed below.

The deployment system (40) comprises an adaptive resource server (400)configured to provide the features and functions of a resource monitor(402), demand engine (406), and deployment engine (404). The adaptiveresource server (400) may be one or more physical or virtual servers,each comprising processors, memory, storage, databases, communicationdevices, and other devices and features that may be included to provideweb services such as those described herein.

The resource monitor (402) is configured to pull and receive informationrelated to resource and facility supply and demand within one or moregeographical regions or zones. Such resource information may be receivedfrom sources such as social media websites (420) and services,technology infrastructure (418) such as cell towers and internetcommunication pathways, third-party services (416) such as APIs andother interfaces that provide various types of information (e.g.,IoT/Smart City Technology, such as, traffic information, weatherconditions or forecasts, crowd conditions or forecasts, densityheatmaps, video intelligence), and first-party data (414) that isgenerated, stored, or otherwise obtained by an administrator of thedeployment system (40) (e.g., information on the locations offacilities, resources, use and occupancy time of facilities andresources, and users associated with the access server (414)). Theresource monitor (402) may also receive direct requests for deploymentof a facility from an organizer (410), which may be an organization,administrator, or staff member involved in organizing or providing anevent (e.g., a music festival or sports event), and from a user (412),which may be a current or future attendee of an event that findsthemselves in need of a facility or resource, or a visitor to a citythat prefers to request a facility or resource rather than searchingprivate businesses and other buildings for accessible facilities andresources. Organizers and users may submit requests using a system suchas that described in the context of FIGS. 1-3D, or through anindependent system and software, using devices such as smartphones,tablets, laptops and computers, and kiosk devices.

The demand engine (406) may receive the resource information gatheredand received by the resource monitor (402) and, over time, identifyzones within a geographical area where demand for resources andfacilities is likely to exceed or has exceeded a supply of suchresources and facilities conveniently accessible from that zone. Thedemand engine (406) may also receive direct requests from organizers(410) and users (412) that are in need of facilities and resources. Inresponse to this information, the demand engine (406) may prepare andposition facilities for future deployment to potential high demandzones, or direct facilities to be deployed in response to directrequests or actual high demand zones.

The deployment engine (404) may be configured to manage the location,distribution, deployment, and status of a plurality of mobile facilities(408). In various implementations this may include, based upon datareceived from the demand engine (406) and its own inventory of mobilefacilities (408), directing one or more mobile facilities (408) topositions within a geographical area that will place them near zones ofpotential high demand, deploying one or more mobile facilities (408) tolocations based upon actual requests or actual zones of high demand,recalling or returning mobile facilities (408) from deployment ordistribution based changing circumstances or reduced demand, and otherfunctions. When used herein, distribution should be understood to referto positioning the mobile facility (408) so that it is convenientlylocated and available for future deployment while not necessarily beingimmobilized or immediately available for access or use, while deploymentshould be understood to refer to positioning the mobile facility (408)in a location where its use is likely or assured, and configuring themobile facility (408) so that it accessible and usable (e.g.,immobilizing the mobile facility (408), unlocking a door, enabling afeature, placing a stair or step used to access the facility).

The deployment engine (404) may direct the mobile facilities (408) indifferent ways depending upon a particular implementation. For example,in some implementations the deployment engine (408) may automaticallyprovide instructions, such as textual descriptions or road navigationand turn-by-turn guidance to a driver of a mobile facility (408) basedupon information received from the demand engine (406). In someimplementations, the deployment engine (408) may provide data andinstructions to an autonomous driving system of a mobile facility (408)based upon information received from the demand engine (406). Suchinstructions are usable by a driver or autonomous driving system todistribute or deploy the mobile facility (408) as needed.

Turning now to FIG. 5, that figure shows a schematic diagram of anexemplary mobile facility such as the mobile facility (408). A facilitytransport (422) may be a vehicle capable of transporting the facility tovarious locations, and may include, for example, trucks, vans, boats,rail cars, and other vehicles, depending upon the nature of the facilitybeing transported. For example, in some embodiments where the facilityis relatively small (e.g., a stand or kiosk with a wireless hotspot andseveral phone charging stations), the facility transport (422) may evenbe, for example, a motorcycle, bicycle, scooter, cart, or even awearable or carriable transportation device such as a backpack in thecase of lightweight facilities. The facility transport (422) may also bea robotic delivery system, which may be, for example, a fully automatedand autonomous cart or other vehicle that is capable of carrying,pushing, pulling, or otherwise maneuvering the facility to adestination.

The facility transport (422) comprises a deployment device (425), whichmay be a smartphone, tablet, computer, navigation system, or otherproprietary device usable by a driver to receive and respond todistribution and deployment instructions. In some implementations, thedeployment device (425) may additionally or alternatively comprise anautonomous driving system configured to receive distribution anddeployment instructions, and automatically pilot the facility transport(422) in response. A transport communication device (424) may be awireless communication device such as a cellular network modem, Wi-Fimodem, or other similar communication device capable of receivinginstructions and information from systems such as the adaptive resourceserver (400), deployment engine (404), access server (114), and othersystems. In some implementations, the transport communication device(424) and the deployment device (425) may be the same device (e.g., asmartphone).

The facility transport (422) is capable of transporting the facilitystructure (423), which in various implementations may be the separate orsame structure as the facility transport (422), and may be manuallydriven, or fully or semi-autonomously driven. For example, in someimplementations the facility structure (423) may be a cargo areapermanently attached to a truck or van and configured to allow users toaccess the interior to use one or more resources (426) contained therein(e.g., restrooms, water fountains). In some implementations, such acargo area may be only temporarily carried by the facility transport(422), such that the facility structure (423) could be deployed at aposition and the facility transport (422) may be assigned to otherdistribution and deployment tasks. In some implementations, the facilitystructure may have an interior comprising one or more resources (426)usable from the interior, an exterior comprising one or more resources(426) usable from the exterior, or both.

Some examples may include a cargo truck (e.g., the facility transport(422)) having one or more restrooms built within a cargo area (e.g., thefacility structure (423)), vending devices usable to purchase water,mobile device power banks, or other goods positioned on the exterior,and a Wi-Fi hotspot configured to provide connectivity in a limitedradius around the truck. Such a truck could, upon deployment to a highdemand zone, provide restrooms, beverages, connectivity, and power topotential users at that location.

Other examples may include a cargo area such as described above builtinto a hitch-hauled trailer or other conveyance and transportable by anyvehicle with a matching hitch. Still other examples may include a kioskunit offering limited vending, power charging, and wirelessconnectivity, with no interior resources, which may be transportable bya bike, cart, or other transport device without reliance upon roadways.Other examples and variations on the type and structure of the facilitytransport (422) and the facility structure (423) will be apparent to oneof ordinary skill in the art in light of this disclosure.

As has been described above, a facility structure such as the facilitystructure (423) can have a variety of features. The facility structure(423) of FIG. 5, for example, comprises an access manager (428), accesspanel (430), and access restrictor (432). The function of thesecomponents varies, but can generally be understood to be respectivelysimilar to the access manager (110), the access panel (104), and thefacility door (106) and its related components (e.g., the automaticopener (101), the automatic locking mechanism (102), the facilitydevices (116), and the motion detector (108). The access panel (430) maybe interacted with by a user (e.g., with a smartphone, QR code, or otheridentifying device) to cause the access manager (428) remove or disablethe access restrictors (432) and gain access to and use of one or moreresources (426).

The access manager (428) may communicate with the access server (114),adaptive resources server (400), facility transport (422), or othersystem or device via a facility communication device (438), which may bethe same or a different device than the transport communication device(424). The access manager (428) may also control the availability of,configuration of, or operation of resources and features of the facilitystructure (423) based upon whether the mobile facility (408) iscurrently deployed or distributed. As such, the access manager (428) maybe implemented as a server, computer, smartphone, or other device withinthe facility structure (423) having data processing and communicationcapabilities as described above. Access to facilities and resources maybe managed in various ways, and may include implementations that areon-demand (e.g., if the resources is free and a request is made accessis granted), queued (e.g., upon an access request a user is placed in aqueued list of waiting users), or contextual (e.g., access is granted torequesters based upon their proximity, need, user status, softwareconfigurations, or otherwise with a goal of providing efficient accessto all users). Other methods of providing a user a valid accesscredential and subsequent access may be performed in various ways beyondthose described above, with such variations being apparent to one ofordinary skill in the art in light of the disclosure herein.

The access restrictor (432) may be one or more physical or technologicalbarriers to accessing or using the resources (426), and may include adoor such as the facility door (106), an automated window cover thatopens up to reveal charging stations or internet connections, aconfiguration change that enables or disables a Wi-Fi hotspot, or othersimilar controls.

The facility structure (423) shown also comprises secondary resources(434), which may be resources that are secondary to a primary resourcefor which the mobile facility (408) is deployed. This could include, forexample, where the mobile facility (408) is deployed by the deploymentengine (404) based upon high demand for restroom. In this example, theresource (426) would be one or more restrooms, while the secondaryresource (434) might be charging stations or Wi-Fi hotspots. Similarly,the mobile facility (408) may offer one or more secondary goods (436)that may be purchased when deployed, such as beverages, snacks, powerbanks, disposable cameras, or other similar goods. The secondary goods(436) may be manually transacted by the driver of the mobile facility(408), for example, or may be transacted through interactions with anautomated vending machine or similar device, or both.

The mobile facility (408) also comprises one or more use sensors (440)configured to detect use of the resources (426), the secondary resources(434), and the secondary goods (436). This could include a sensor suchas the motion sensor (108) to detect and determine whether a restroom isin use or locked from within, the status of tissue paper, soap and othersupplies, fill levels of water storage tanks or waste storage tanks,traffic on a Wi-Fi hotspot, electrical draw on a set of phone chargers,goods dispensed from a vending machine, and other information. Suchinformation may be usable by the deployment engine (404) to determinewhen the mobile facility (408) should be recalled from deployment,serviced, or restocked. The mobile facility (408) also comprises a powersupply (442), which may include one or more of a connection to thefacility transport (422) to receive power produced by an alternator,solar panels positioned on the facility structure (423), batteries, orother power sources.

The mobile facility (408) of FIG. 5 is exemplary, and it should beunderstood based upon the above that many of the described componentsare optional (e.g., some mobile facilities may not have the access panel(430) or the access restrictors (432)). Such variations and others willbe apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in light of thedisclosure herein.

III. Exemplary Method for Real-Time Adaptive Facility Deployment

Having describes the deployment system (40) above, FIGS. 6-13 showmethods that may be performed by or with one or more components of thedeployment system (40) or the system (10). Turning now to FIG. 6, thatfigure shows an exemplary set of high-level steps (block 500) that thedeployment system (40) may perform to distribute and deploy facilities.These steps comprise monitoring (block 502) for resource demand (e.g.,the resource monitor (402) receiving information from one or moresources associated with resource demand), monitoring (block 504) forresource supply (e.g., the resource monitor (402) receiving informationfrom one or more sources associated with current or pre-existingresource supply), pro-actively distributing (block 506) facilities toanticipate high demand zones, identifying (block 508) resource requests(e.g., direct requests from users (412) or organizers (410), ordetection of a high demand zone), deploying (block 510) one or morefacilities from a distribution point to a deployment point where theyare accessible and usable to nearby users, and recalling (block 511) oneor more facilities when they are no longer needed.

FIG. 7 shows an exemplary set of steps (block 512) that the deploymentsystem (40) may perform to monitor (block 502) demand for resources. Theresource monitor may receive (block 600) social data from one or moresocial media sites (420), platforms, or services. This could includeboth publicly available data, such as broadcast messages, hashtags, andtrending topics, as well as private data, such as direct messages toaccounts or pages maintained in relation to the deployment system (40),or accounts or pages maintained in relation to an organizer (410) oruser (412) and provided to the resource monitor (402) by that party.Such information may be scraped or crawled by the resource monitor (402)or may be pulled using an API or other interface as may be provided forparticular platforms. Social media information may be a useful indicatorof potential or actual high demand for resources, as events that drawlarge crowds are often paired with hashtags, photo and status updates,and location information. For example, a steady increase in the numberand frequency of hashtags associated with a music festival can beindicative of a growing crowd, as well as a growing need for access tofacilities and resources at the music festival.

The resource monitor may also receive (block 602) information from oneor more first-party data streams. The first-party data streams may bedatabases, systems, sensors, APIs, or other applications maintained bythe party providing the deployment system (40). For example, the accesssystem (114) may be a first-party data stream, as it can provideinformation related to volume of use of one or more facilities within ageographic area or user searches for facilities within an area. Asanother example, the deployment system (40) may have one or more remotesensors or systems usable to provide information relating to resourcedemand. This could include imaging devices or crowd counting devicesinstalled on the mobile facility (408) or carried by drones, sensorsinstalled at entryways to an event venue, or other sensorconfigurations. Such data may also include information for occupancytime, usage time, and other available information indicating thecapacity for use and actual use of facilities and resources in areassurrounding the zone.

The resource monitor may also receive (block 604) information from oneor more third-party data streams. Third-party data streams may bedatabases or datasets maintained by third parties and accessible by APIsor other interface to retrieve relevant information. Third-party datastreams may include information from a traffic software providerindicating high traffic towards certain areas of a city or othergeographical area, information from a bike or scooter rental platformindicating high rental traffic towards certain areas of a city,information from an electrical or water utility provider indicatingincreased use of water and electric, information from a ticket salesplatform indicating the location and occurrence of an event and a numberof attendees, information from a ride sharing provider indicating anincreased number of passengers being dropped off in an area, and othersimilar information, IoT/Smart City Technology, density heatmaps, andvideo intelligence. Third-party data streams may also includeinformation from technology infrastructure (418) such as cellular datatraffic.

Such data received by the resource monitor (402) may be used by thedemand engine (406) to determine (block 606) one or more demand zoneswithin a geographical area serviced by the deployment system (40). Ademand zone may be an area within a geographical area with a definedborder and having various shapes and sizes. Demand zones may bedetermined (block 606) based upon manual configuration, such as where acity contains a large park that is frequently crowded. The demand engine(406) could be configured to give preference to the manually configuredboundary of the park when determining (block 606) the shape andboundaries of demand zones within the city. Demand zones may also bedetermined (block 606) automatically, based upon information received bythe resource monitor (402). For example, where a number of social mediausers are all posting photos associated with location information for aseveral block area within a city, a demand zone may be automaticallycreated with a shape based upon the discrete locations of images, thevolume of activity, street boundaries, or other factors. As anotherexample, where third-party data indicates the occurrence of a sportingevent at a sports venue, a demand zone may be automatically created witha size and shape encompassing the venue, as well as any parkinglocations and restaurants within one kilometer.

After one or more demand zones have been determined (block 606), thedemand engine (406) may then determine (block 608) a demand value foreach zone.

The demand value may be an abstracted numeric representation ofinformation received by the resource monitor (402) that is associatedwith the zone. The demand value may be determined by assigning weightsto and aggregating received information that is associated with a zonein order to produce a numeric value representative of the overall demandfor resources within that zone. For example, each use of a hashtagassociated with a zone may be weighted at 1, while general social mediaposts containing keywords that are relevant to demand (e.g., “bathroom”,“crowded”, “lines”) may be weighted at 10. First-party data streams,such as searches and uses of permanent facilities from the access server(114) may be weighted highly due to their verifiable accuracy.Third-party data streams may be weighted differently based upon theirrelevance. For example, traffic data may indicate people driving towardsan event, but could also indicate vehicles driving to an event to pickup attendees and drive them home. Conversely, cellular data traffic fromtechnology infrastructure (418) may be weighted more heavily, as it canbe accurately tracked over time as a crowd forms and then disperses.

Turning now to FIG. 8, that figure shows an exemplary set of steps(block 514) that the deployment system (40) may perform to monitor(block 504) supply of resources. While monitoring (block 502) resourcedemand, the resource monitor (402) may also receive (block 610)first-party data streams and receive (block 612) third-party datastreams containing information associated with current or pre-existingsupplies and availability of resources within a geographical area ordemand zone. Such first-party data could include information from theaccess server (114) indicating a number of permanent facilities alreadyavailable in that area (e.g., restrooms or other resources located incoffee shops or other buildings and configured for access and use withthe system (10)), information from one or more mobile facilities (408)indicating their location, deployment status, and availability, andother information.

Such information could also include information manually configured byan administrator of the deployment system (40) (e.g., manually enteredinformation indicating the presence and location of public or temporaryrestrooms and resources, the presence and location of private businesseshaving resources accessible without the access server (114)). Received(block 612) third-party data streams may include information frommapping and navigation platforms, business review platforms, and otherplatforms that indicate the presence and location of businesses havingprivate restroom or resources, or public restroom or resources within acity or other geographical area.

The demand engine (406) may then identify (block 614) from the receivedinformation the types, locations, and quantities of resources availablewithin the one or more determined (block 606) demand zones and determine(block 616) a supply value for each demand zone. As with the demandvalue, the supply value may be an abstracted numeric representation ofinformation received by the resource monitor (402) that is associatedwith the zone. The supply value may be determined by assigning weightsto and aggregating received information that is associated with a zonein order to produce a numeric value representative of the overallavailability and accessibility of resources within that zone. Theparticular abstraction and representation implemented for the supplyvalue and the demand value should be related so that the two values canbe meaningfully compared to each other.

For example, if the demand value is a number between one and onehundred, the supply value could also be a number between one and onehundred, and the demand value exceeding the supply value could indicatea need for additional resources. As another example, if the demand valueis a number of any size representing a number of persons within a demandzone that might need a resource within a ten-minute time frame, then thesupply value may be a total number of resources in that demand zone.Supply values may also be determined or influenced based uponaccessibility of resources (e.g., where available resources areconcentrated into a small area of a large demand zone) or quality ofresources (e.g., where available resources are of a temporary naturesuch as portable restrooms or portable water stations). Various possibleimplementations exist for a demand value and a supply value allowing formeaningful comparisons, and such variations will be apparent to one ofordinary skill in the art in light of this disclosure.

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary set of steps (block 516) that the deploymentsystem (40) may perform to distribute (block 506) facilities prior todeployment. Based upon information from the demand engine (406), thedeployment engine (404) may direct one or more mobile facilities (408)in operation with a geographical zone to be distributed across thatgeographical zone to positions that may provide them more timely andconvenient access to developing demand zones. In this manner, the timerequired to deploy the mobile facility (408) when a developing demandzone becomes a high demand zone may be reduced. For example, if eachmobile facility was stored at a handful of centralized transit stationsuntil needed, there would be a time cost in moving the mobile facilityto a roadway and proceeding to a deployment position that may bearbitrarily located relative to the centralized transit station. Aplurality of roaming mobile facilities (408) that have been distributedacross a geographical area in anticipation of developing high demandzones may in many or most cases be deployed with a much shorter timecost.

To provide this functionality, the demand engine (406) may compare(block 618) the demand value and the supply value for multiple demandzones within its geographical area. This may occur in parallel and inreal-time as demand zones are created and updated (e.g., changes in sizeor shape), and as demand values and supply values change and are updated(e.g., a concert or sports event ending may increase the demand value,while the deployment of one or more mobile facilities may impact thesupply value).

When the demand engine (406) determines that a disparity threshold hasbeen exceeded (block 620) for a demand zone, the demand engine (406) mayautomatically generate (block 622) and provide an adaptive resourcerequest to the deployment engine (404) that will cause one or moremobile facilities (408) to be deployed to that demand zone. For example,where the supply value and the demand value are numbers between one andone hundred, the disparity threshold may be exceeded (block 620) whenthe demand value exceeds the supply value by five or more.

When the disparity threshold is not exceeded (block 620), but the demandengine (406) determines (block 624) that there is a potential disparityin one or more demand zones, the demand engine (406) may providedistribution instructions to the deployment engine (404) that will causeone or more mobile facilities (408) to be distributed to locations thatare convenient for accessing one or more of the potential high demandzones (e.g., demand zones that are showing an increase in demand, butthat have not yet exceeded (block 620) the disparity threshold).

When potential disparities are determined and identified (block 624),the demand engine (406) may generate (block 622) a resource map showingthe locations of known resources (e.g., permanent resources, deployedmobile facilities, and other previously identified (block 614)resources) within a geographical area in which the potential demandzones are located. The demand engine (406) may also generate (block 630)a demand zone map showing the locations, sizes, shapes, andcharacteristics (e.g., magnitude, speed of growth, etc.) of thepotential high demand zones. The demand engine (406) may then compare(block 632) the resource map to the demand zone map and determine one ormore distribution points for mobile facilities. Distribution points maybe static locations (e.g., a location where the mobile facility (408)parks and waits for further instructions) or dynamic locations or routes(e.g., a circular route that the mobile facility (408) follows whileawaiting further instructions). A variety of rules or procedures may beapplied during the comparison (block 632) with parallel goals such asmaximizing coverage of a geographical area, maximizing coverage ofpotential high demand zones, minimizing distance of travel to quicklygrowing demand zones, and avoiding traffic accidents and roadcongestion.

For example, one distribution goal may be to distribute (block 634) oneor more mobile facilities to pre-configured preferred distributionpoints that are within or proximate to one or more potential high demandzones. Preferred distribution points may be locations within a city orother geographical area that have been identified as ideal for quick andefficient access to other parts of the geographical area. For example,an interstate roadway that circles a metropolitan area and that offersmultiple points of exit into the metropolitan area may be a preferreddistribution point for demand zones within. Another preferreddistribution point may be a parking lot with exits to severalsurrounding roadways that are generally not congested with pedestrian orvehicle traffic. Another preferred distribution point may be a street orreserved sparking spot within a downtown area that is within a fewblocks of several music and sports venues.

Another distribution goal, which may be prioritized lower thandistributing (block 634) to preferred distribution points, may be toidentify one or more demand zones whose borders are close to, oractually touch or overlap, and to distribute (block 636) mobilefacilities to midpoints between those demand zones. For example, if twodemand zones are developing within a downtown area, the demand engine(406) may identify a central point of each demand zone based upon itssize and shape, then identify a midpoint between the two central pointsas a distribution point. This midpoint may fall within one of the demandzones depending upon their characteristics but will have a likelihood ofbeing a convenient point to deploy to either of the two demand zones ifthe need arises. Distribution (block 636) to midpoints could similarlyoccur for three or more nearby demand zones, and in the absence ofpreferred distribution points may on average minimize the time to deployto any of the associated demand zones.

Another distribution goal, which may be prioritized lower thandistributing (block 636) to midpoints, may be to distribute (block 638)to borders of a demand zone. A distribution point at or traversing alongthe border of a potential high demand zone may position a mobilefacility so that it can efficiently enter and deploy within the demandzone, while also allowing it to be distributed or deployed to adifferent demand zone without being caught in traffic or congestionrelated to the bordered demand zone. This may be especially effectivewhen there are multiple demand zones having borders that are near, butnot overlapping, such that a mobile facility could be distributed to anarea where it has quick access to several demand zones without beingcaught within the congestion related to a single demand zone.

Other distribution strategies exist and will be apparent to one ofordinary skill in the art in light of this disclosure. For example,mobile facilities could be distributed to central points within eachpotential high demand zone as they form, could be evenly distributedacross a metropolitan area without particular regard to demand zones,could be distributed to locations that allow them to refuel, resupply,clean, or otherwise maintain the mobile facilities while they awaitdeployment, and other similar strategies.

Turning now to FIG. 10, that figure shows an exemplary set of steps(block 518) that the deployment system (40) may perform to identify(block 508), deploy (block 510), and recall (block 511) mobilefacilities. The deployment engine (404) may receive a requestinstructions indicating a deployment is necessary, and in response mayprovide instructions (e.g., navigational directions or autonomousdriving instructions to a driver or autonomous deployment device (425)of the facility transport (422)) directing one or more mobile facilitiesbased upon the request.

Requests may be received (block 640) as adaptive resources requests thatare automatically generated (block 622) by the demand engine (406) asdescribed above. An adaptive resource request may contain informationsuch as a magnitude of demand disparity and a demand zone location andcharacteristics. Requests may also be received (block 642) from a personsuch as the organizer (410). An organizer request may containinformation such as a number of mobile facilities desired, deploymentlocations for mobile facilities, dates and times of deployment, andspecial instructions or authorization credentials that may be requiredto deploy at the deployment locations (e.g., where a deployment locationis within a private parking lot, the organizer request may contain akey, code, image, or other authenticators usable to access the privateparking lot).

Requests may also be received (block 644) from a person such as the user(412). A user request may contain information such as the user's presentlocation (e.g., either manually chosen or automatically determined by auser device such as the user device (100)), a duration of time in whichthey would like the mobile facility to arrive, a description orphotograph of a location nearby the user at which the mobile facilitycould deploy, an image of the requesting user, an indication of whetherthere are other potential users of the mobile facility (408) with orproximate to the requesting user, and other information.

As requests are received, the deployment engine (404) may select (block646) one or more distributed mobile facilities based upon theirproximity or ease of access to the deployment location and cause theselected (block 646) mobile facilities to deploy to those locations.Where a deployment point is not specifically defined in the request,such as where the request is an adaptive resource request, or a user ororganizer request that doesn't specify particular locations, thedeployment engine (404) may automatically select deployment points basedupon one or more distribution goals intended to maximize theaccessibility of the mobile facility.

For example, one deployment goal treated with a high priority may be todeploy (block 648) to manually configured preferred deployment pointsthat are within a high demand zone, or proximate to a user or organizerrequest location. Preferred deployment points may be chosen based uponaccessibility from preferred distribution points, distance from majorroadways or interstates, visibility and position relative to nearbystructures such as sports venues, availability of connections toelectric supplies, water supplies, sanitation infrastructure, or otherutilities, and other considerations.

Another deployment goal when responding to adaptive resource requestsmay be to deploy (block 650) to as close to the zone center as possible.This may be advantageous to provide maximum average accessibility toanyone within the high demand zone. Another deployment goal may be todeploy (block 652) to a point in the high demand zone where resourcesupply has been identified (block 614) as having low coverage. Forexample, if a demand zone already contains a number of permanentfacilities and resources (e.g., in coffee shops or restaurants), or oneor more other mobile facilities have already been deployed, thedeployment engine (404) may deploy (block 652) to an area within thedemand zone that is furthest from the pre-existing facilities andresources, to improve ease of access to users in that remote part of thezone. As with distribution, other strategies and goals for deploymentexist, and will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in lightof this disclosure.

When a mobile facility deploys, the deployment engine (404) or anotherfeature or device may provide (block 654) deployment notifications toone or more recipients. Deployment notifications could be provided(block 654) to requesters such as the user (412) or the organizer (410)and could also be provided (block 654) publicly to others that may belocated nearby the recently deployed facility. For example, this couldinclude the resource monitor (402) automatically providing informationto social media sites (420) indicating that a mobile facility wasdeployed at a location and describing resources it offers. Suchinformation could be associated with a trending topic, hashtag, eventpage, live story, or other similar categorical structure to publiclyindicate its availability. The resource monitor (402) may also providenotifications to one or more third-party data streams (416), which couldinclude using APIs or other interfaces to provide a deploymentnotification which may then appear on a third-party platformsdisplayable map as an icon or other indicator. Notifications may also beprovided via first-party platforms, such as via the user device (100) ofthe system (10).

Once deployed, the mobile facility (408) will be accessible and usablein different ways depending upon a particular type of user. For example,some users may have a subscription or other pre-purchased access for theresources (426) of the mobile facility (408), as described in thecontext of FIG. 1. Other users may purchase digital or physical accessto the resources (426) at the mobile facility (408) itself prior to use.This could include, for example, using a kiosk or other device topurchase access to the resources (426), and receiving a printed code,optical identifier, digital passcode, or other authentication devicethat may be provided to the access panel (430) to access and use theresource (426). Persons such as the user (412) and the organizer (410)may pay an initial fee when the mobile facility is requested.

When a particular deployed mobile facility becomes unnecessary, such aswhere the demand disparity for resources within the demand zone in whichit is deployed has decreased, where one or more use sensors (440)indicate that utilization has slowed or stopped, or where the user (412)or the organizer (410) indicates that it is no longer needed, thedeployment engine (404) may determine that need for that mobile facilityhas fallen below a deployment threshold (block 656), and may provideinstructions or directions to end (block 658) deployment and return themobile facility to a distribution point, or a service point where it canbe cleaned, resupplied, and otherwise maintained for future distributionand deployment.

Variations on the above disclosed systems and methods exist and will beapparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in light of thisdisclosure. Other feature and systems, such as the system (10), may alsobe implemented with the deployment system (40), several of which aredescribed below.

IV. Exemplary Method for Cost Sharing of Facility Deployment

Turning now to FIG. 11, that figure shows an exemplary set of steps(block 520) that the deployment system (40) may perform to share costsassociated with deployment of the mobile facility (408). This may beparticularly applicable to users such as the user (412) and theorganizer (410), who may pay a fee or cost associated with the requestof the mobile facility (408). When a request is received, the deploymentsystem (40) may display (block 660) an initial cost of deployment to therequester and receive (block 662) confirmation of the cost and requestin response.

After deployment of the mobile facility (408) as requested, thedeployment system (40) may provide (block 654) deployment notificationsto other potential users as has been described, and then track usage andinteractions with the mobile facility (408) during that deployment inorder provide certain benefits to the requesting user based thereon. Forexample, where a user other than the requesting user purchases (block664) access to and use of the resources (426) or the secondary resources(434), the deployment system (40) may track such purchases and reduce(block 666) the cost of the deployment to the requesting user to anamount less than the displayed (block 660) initial cost. Similarly,where purchases of the secondary goods (436) occur during thatdeployment, the cost to the requesting user may be reduced (block 670)based upon the type and quantity goods purchased.

In implementations where access to the mobile facility (408) and theresources (426) is purchased based upon a subscription or prior purchaseof a number of uses, the deployment system (40) may also identify one ormore new subscribers (block 672) or purchasers of such a service, andmay reduce (block 674) the cost of the deployment to the requesting userbased thereon.

When the mobile facility (408) deployment ends (block 676), whether as aresult of declining usage or direct user request, the deployment system(40) may resolve (block 678) a final cost of the deployment based uponthe displayed (block 660) initial cost and any reductions (block 666,block 670, block 674) and then complete the transaction with therequesting user.

V. Exemplary Method for Facility Use Based Benefits

FIG. 12 shows an exemplary set of steps (block 522) that the deploymentsystem (40) may perform to provide benefits related to resource use.When a user's use of a resource ends (block 678), the deployment system(40) may determine a user type for that user based upon the manner inwhich they accessed the resources (426). For example, some users mayaccess the resources (426) based upon a subscription or prior purchased,while other users may purchase access from a kiosk or other device atthe mobile facility (408).

Based upon this user type, the deployment system (40) may provide onemore benefits to that user in the form of digital coupons and offers orprinted coupons and offers. For example, users such as a subscriptionuser may be provided (block 684) an email or electronic messagecontaining a digital coupon for services or goods (block 686) that maybe used to receive free or reduced cost purchase of the secondaryresources (434), free or reduced cost use of the resources (426), orfree or reduced cost purchase of the secondary goods (436). In such ascenario, upon completing use of the resource, the subscribing user mayreceive an email, text, or application notification via a device such asthe user device (100) containing information that they can use toreceive a free bottled water from the secondary goods (436) and connectto a Wi-Fi hotspot centered on the mobile facility (408), as well as adigital code that they can use to allow a friend or other person toaccess the resource (426) once for free.

Users such as new users or non-subscribing users may receive a printedcoupon if they have not yet provided any electronic contact information.The printed coupon may contain a code, key, optical identifier, or otherinformation that may similarly be used to receive free or reduced costresource use or purchase of goods. New or non-subscribing users mayadditionally be provided (block 682) a printed or digital coupon usableto subscribe to or purchase future access to the resources (426) at areduced cost or special subscription.

VI. Exemplary Methods for Providing Facility Access to Aging Population

Convenient and accessible facilities and resources are especiallyimportant for aging populations within cities and communities. Whetherdue to reduced mobility, dementia, fatigue, or declining eyesight,finding and accessing facilities and resources such as restrooms, waterfountains, and rest areas can be an uncomfortable and stressfulexperience for humans as we age. As cities have become increasinglyconnected in terms of wireless communication, scooter and bike rentals,and technology software platforms, ease of city life has increased forsome. Many of these solutions, however, are marketed towards anddesigned for younger populations, and may as a result be difficult foraging populations to interact with and utilize.

Some technology platforms, such as the system (10) and the deploymentsystem (40) may advantageously provide an improved user experience foraging populations through interfaces and other features. For example,the interface of FIG. 3A may provide additional search capabilitiesdirected at those in an aging population to help them identifyappropriate facilities and resources that may be accessed withoutrequiring that stairs be climbed, facilities that offer wheelchairaccess or other amenities, and facilities that are aestheticallydesigned and marketed towards an aging population rather than a youngpopulation. In this manner, someone within an aging population can findand access a facility that is more conducive to providing a userexperience that is designed to meet their special needs. For example,these facilities may accommodate extended stays, on-call care providerconsults, and an ability to notify emergency assistance.

As another example, the user (412) of the deployment system (40) may beable to request that a mobile facility be deployed nearby that hasimproved accessibility for an aging population, which may include awheelchair lift, additional handrails, lower stair height, or otherdesign features. Such a mobile facility may be designated different whenit is displayed on a map such as that shown in FIG. 3A and may also bedescribed differently when deployment notifications are provided (block654).

As another example, permanent facilities and mobile facilities that aredisplayed on a map such as that shown in FIG. 3A may have additionalicons or information indicating that a human attendant is at or near thefacility and available to provide assistance in accessing and exitingthe facility, using resources contained therein, and providing othergeneral assistance if needed.

As another example, a user device such as the user device (100), awearable device, or another device that the user (412) possesses may beused to pro-actively provide locations and access to facilities andresources, as well as to pro-actively provide electronic communicationsand requests to distribute or deploy facilities such as the mobilefacility (408) for aging populations. In some implementations, a usermay possess a wearable device or other personal device that uses factorssuch as time, fluid intake, perspiration, body temperature, and otherdetectable physiological states and information in order to predictimminent or future need of facilities and resources. One such wearabledevice may be an external patch or other electronic device worn on thebody that can estimate and determine bladder size and contents, whichmay be an indicator of a future need for a restroom. Such a device maybe configured to communicate with (i.e., directly, or through a devicesuch as the user device (100)) the deployment system (40), the accessserver (114), or both, in order to identify and provide access to nearbyfacilities and resources. Access may be provided by way of a pro-activenotification, such as a message via the user device (100) of a nearbypermanent facility, or a notification of a recently distributed anddeployed mobile facility.

VII. Exemplary Access Management Kit

A system such as that described in the context of FIG. 1 may beadvantageously configured to allow for varying ways in which a facilityor resource can be made available via the access server (114). Forexample, in some implementations each facility or resource may be owned,administrated, installed, or otherwise provided by the administrator ofthe access server (114), such that new facilities may be installed,configured, and made available via the access server (114) by thatadministrator. In some such implementations, facilities and resourcesmay also be configured and added to the access server (114) in anautomated or semi-automated manner.

This may be useful where, for example, an administrator of the accessserver (114) may provide bundles kits of devices and software that maybe purchased by end-user installers, and installed and configured on avariety of facilities in order to add them to the access server (114).Such a kit may comprise, for example, the automatic opener (101), theautomatic locking mechanism (102), the access panel (104), and theaccess manager (110). These devices may be installed and configured on adoor of their facility to allow it to automatically open, close, lock,and unlock the door in response to commands from the access manager(110) and the access panel (104).

The access server (114) may be configured to detect when installation ofthe kit is complete. For example, the access manager (110) in each kitmay be configured with unique information identifying that kit. When theaccess manager (110) is installed, it may connect to an internet networkand communicate with the access server (114) in order to provide theunique identifier and other information verifying proper installation ofthe kit. Such information may include diagnostic checks and tests of theautomatic opener (101), the automatic locking mechanism (102), and theaccess panel (104). Such information may also include a verifying codeor passkey provided by an installing technician.

In response to receiving such information verifying installation, theaccess server (114) may automatically register the newly installedfacility, and may make it available for search and access via the userdevice (100), so that it may be viewed and selected via interfaces suchas those shown in FIGS. 3A-3D. Operating in this manner, such a kit maybe provided to end users through a variety of commercials means (e.g.,online orders, home improvement retail stores) and provide a high levelof scalability as compared to a system where each facility is eitherpartially or entirely managed by an administrator of the access server(114).

VIII. Miscellaneous

It should be understood that any one or more of the teachings,expressions, embodiments, examples, etc. described herein may becombined with any one or more of the other teachings, expressions,embodiments, examples, etc. that are described herein. Thefollowing-described teachings, expressions, embodiments, examples, etc.should therefore not be viewed in isolation relative to each other.Various suitable ways in which the teachings herein may be combined willbe readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of theteachings herein. Such modifications and variations are intended to beincluded within the scope of the claims.

Having shown and described various embodiments of the present invention,further adaptations of the methods and systems described herein may beaccomplished by appropriate modifications by one of ordinary skill inthe art without departing from the scope of the present invention.Several of such potential modifications have been mentioned, and otherswill be apparent to those skilled in the art. For instance, theexamples, embodiments, geometrics, materials, dimensions, ratios, steps,and the like discussed above are illustrative and are not required.Accordingly, the scope of the present invention should be considered interms of the following claims and is understood not to be limited to thedetails of structure and operation shown and described in thespecification and drawings.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A real-time adaptive facility deploymentsystem comprising: (a) an adaptive resource server comprising aprocessor and configured to store a facility dataset comprisinginformation associated with a plurality of mobile facilities; (b) eachof the plurality of mobile facilities comprising a resource and anaccess manager, wherein the resource comprises a restroom, wherein theaccess manager is communicatively coupled with the adaptive resourceserver, and wherein each of the plurality of mobile facilities isadapted to be transported to a destination point and deployed for use;and (c) a plurality of transport communication devices, wherein each ofthe plurality of transport communication devices is communicativelycoupled with the adaptive resource server and associated with a mobilefacility of the plurality of mobile facilities; wherein the processor isconfigured to: (i) receive a set of resource demand information thatdescribes demand for the resource across a geographic area, (ii) receivea set of resource availability information that describes availabilityfor the resource across the geographic area, (iii) determine a disparityassociated with the resource for a demand zone within the geographicarea based on the set of resource demand information and the set ofresource availability information, and (iv) provide a distributionsignal to a transport communication device of the plurality of transportcommunication devices based on the disparity and the demand zone,wherein the distribution signal is associated with positioning a mobilefacility that is associated with the transport communication device at adistribution point relative to the demand zone; wherein the adaptationto each of the plurality of mobile facilities comprises: (A) a facilitystructure comprising a set of wheels, and (B) a facility transport thatis operable to transport that mobile facility to the destination point,wherein the facility transport comprises an autonomous driving system,and wherein the distribution signal is configured to cause theautonomous driving system to pilot the facility transport to thedistribution point.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor isfurther configured to: (i) identify a resource request for the resourcewithin the geographic area, (ii) determine a deployment point based onthe resource request, and (ii) provide a deployment signal to thetransport communication device, wherein the deployment signal isassociated with deploying the mobile facility at the deployment point sothat the resource is usable.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein theprocessor is further configured to, when identifying the resourcerequest: (i) receive a direct request from a user device, the directrequest comprising a location of the user device within the geographicarea and an identification of a user associated with the user device,and, in response to the direct request, determine the deployment pointbased on the location of the user device, and (ii) determine that thedisparity has exceed a configured threshold and, in response, generatean adaptive resource request and determine the deployment point based onthe demand zone.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the processor isfurther configured to: (i) determine that the mobile facility is notneeded at the deployment point based on an updated disparity associatedwith the resource and the demand zone, and (ii) in response, provide arecall signal to the transport communication device that is associatedwith positioning the mobile facility at an updated distribution point.5. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor is further configuredto, in response to identifying the resource request, identify the mobilefacility within the plurality of mobile facilities based on proximity tothe demand zone.
 6. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor isfurther configured to: (i) select the distribution point relative to thedemand zone based on a preconfigured preferred distribution pointproximate to the demand zone, and (ii) select the deployment pointrelative to the demand zone based on a preconfigured preferreddeployment point proximate to the demand zone.
 7. The system of claim 2,wherein the processor is further configured to, when the resourcerequest is a direct request received from a user device: (i) display aninitial cost associated with deployment of the mobile facility on theuser device; (ii) provide a deployment notification to a plurality ofuser devices located within a configured proximity of the deploymentpoint; (iii) track a number of users that access and use the mobilefacility while it is located at the deployment point; and (iv) display afinal cost associated with the deployment of the mobile facility on theuser device based on the initial cost and the number of users thataccess and use the mobile facility at the deployment point.
 8. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the set of resource demand informationcomprises a social media data stream, a first-party data stream, and athird-party data stream.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein: (i) thesocial media data stream comprises information received from socialmedia postings that describe or are associated with the geographic area,(ii) the third-party data stream comprises information received from aride sharing provider that indicates a high number of passengerstraveling to the geographic area, and (iii) the first-party data streamcomprises information received from a facility access system thatmanages access to the resource at statically positioned privatefacilities.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to, when determining the disparity: (i) generate a resourcemap that describes the availability of the resource across thegeographic area, (ii) generate a demand map that describes the demandfor the resource across the geographic area, and (iii) compare thedemand map to the resource map in order to determine locations of one ormore demand zones within the geographic area.
 11. A method for adaptivedeployment of a mobile facility comprising: (a) at an adaptive resourceserver, storing a facility dataset comprising information associatedwith a plurality of mobile facilities, wherein each of the plurality ofmobile facilities comprises a resource and an access manager, whereinthe resource comprises a restroom, wherein the access manager iscommunicatively coupled with the adaptive resource server, and whereineach of the plurality of mobile facilities is adapted to be transportedto a destination point and deployed for use; (b) at the adaptiveresource server, receiving a set of resource demand information thatdescribes demand for the resource across a geographic area; (c)receiving a set of resource availability information that describesavailability for the resource across the geographic area; (d)determining a disparity associated with the resource for a demand zonewithin the geographic area based on the set of resource demandinformation and the set of resource availability information; (e)providing a distribution signal to a transport communication device of amobile facility of the plurality of mobile facilities based on thedisparity and the demand zone, wherein the distribution signal isassociated with positioning a mobile facility that is associated withthe transport communication device at a distribution point relative tothe demand zone; and (f) in response to identifying a resource requestfor the resource within the geographic area, providing a deploymentsignal to the transport communication device, wherein the deploymentsignal is associated with deploying the mobile facility at a deploymentpoint relative to the demand zone so that the resource is usable;wherein the adaptation to each of the plurality of mobile facilitiescomprises: (A) a facility structure comprising a set of wheels, and (B)a facility transport that is operable to transport that mobile facilityto the destination point, wherein the facility transport comprises anautonomous driving system, and wherein the distribution signal isconfigured to cause the autonomous driving system to pilot the facilitytransport to the distribution point.
 12. The method of claim 11, whereinthe distribution point is a preconfigured position that is selected froma plurality of positions based upon the demand zone.
 13. The method ofclaim 12, wherein the deployment point is a preconfigured position thatis selected from the plurality of positions based upon: (i) the locationof the demand zone when the resource request is an adaptive resourcerequest, and (ii) the location of a user device when the resourcerequest is a direct request received from the user device.
 14. Themethod of claim 11, further comprising, after the mobile facility isdeployed at the deployment point, providing a notification to aplurality of user devices located within a configured proximity of thedeployment point, wherein the notification indicates the location of thedeployment point.
 15. The method of claim 11, further comprising, whenthe resource request is a direct request received from a user device:(a) displaying an initial cost associated with deployment of the mobilefacility on the user device; (b) tracking a number of other users thataccess and use the mobile facility while it is located at the deploymentpoint; and (c) displaying a final cost associated with the deployment ofthe mobile facility on the user device, wherein the final cost isdetermined based upon the initial cost and the number of users thataccess and use the mobile facility at the deployment point.
 16. Themethod of claim 11, further comprising, when providing the deploymentsignal to the transport communication device, selecting the mobilefacility from plurality of mobile facilities based upon a proximity ofthe distribution point relative to the deployment point.
 17. A real-timeadaptive facility deployment system comprising: (a) an adaptive resourceserver comprising a processor; (b) a mobile facility comprising aresource, wherein the resource comprises a private restroom, an accessmanager, and an access restrictor, wherein access restrictor is operableto selectively allow access to the private restroom, wherein the accessmanager is communicatively coupled with the adaptive resource server,and wherein the mobile facility is adapted to be transported to adestination point and deployed; (c) a transport communication deviceassociated with the mobile facility and in communication with theadaptive resource server; and (d) a user device in communication withthe adaptive resource server; wherein the processor is configured to:(i) receive a set of resource demand information that describes demandfor the resource across a geographic area, the set of resource demandinformation comprising a social media data stream and a first-party datastream, (ii) receive a set of resource availability information thatdescribes availability for the resource across the geographic area, theset of resource availability information comprising a third-party datastream, (iii) determine a disparity associated with the resource for ademand zone within the geographic area based on the set of resourcedemand information and the set of resource availability information,(iv) provide a distribution signal to the transport communication devicebased on the disparity and the demand zone, wherein the distributionsignal is associated with positioning the mobile facility at adistribution point relative to the demand zone, (v) provide a deploymentsignal to the transport communication device based on the disparity andthe demand zone, wherein the deployment signal is associated withdeploying the mobile facility at a deployment point relative to thedemand zone so that the resource is usable, (vi) receive an accessrequest from the user device via the access manager, the access requestcomprising a user identifier, and validate the access request based onthe user identifier, and (vii) where the access request is valid,operate the access restrictor to allow access to the private restroom;wherein the adaptation to the mobile facility comprises: (A) a facilitystructure comprising a set of wheels, and (B) a facility transport thatis operable to transport the mobile facility to the destination point,wherein the facility transport comprises an autonomous driving system,and wherein the distribution signal is configured to cause theautonomous driving system to pilot the facility transport to thedistribution point.